Brave Young Suitor
by DhampyrX2
Summary: Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, had trained Christine Daae from the time she was ten.  When looked at from that perspective his love seems far too obsessive to be genuine.  And yet, his love was real.  Just not in the way the young prima donna thought.


Title: Brave Young Suitor

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: Drama

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

Summary: Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, had trained Christine Daae from the time she was ten. When looked at from that perspective his love seems far too obsessive to be genuine. And yet, his love was real. Just not in the way the young prima donna thought.

"Now that you have gorged your lust for blood, do you intend to use me to sate your lust for flesh!" Christine demanded of the Phantom now that the pair had descended to his underground lair after the fiasco that had been the performance of Don Juan Triumphant.

Erik stared at the girl for nearly a minute in shock before cackling madly. "My lust for flesh? You flatter yourself child. I'm afraid all I ever had to offer you was the love a guidance of a friend and teacher. You said it yourself that day in the cemetery. "Angel or Father, Friend or Phantom." the answer, my dear Christine, is that I have tried to be all four to you. And I always shall. This was never about your flesh, girl," he informed her calmly as he moved to sit at his organ.

"What?" Christine deamnded, unsure of exactly what she was being told.

Erik sighed sadly as he responded, "Look at me, child. The same face that forces be to bathe in blood will always deny the pleasure of the flesh. I will have no children of my own. Nobody to pass on my music to. Nobody, except you. You are more than the mask I wear, Christine. You are me legacy. My Angel. The child of my blackened heart."

"But, Raoul. The fire. The kidnapping. You have done everything to tear Raoul from me," Christine insisted.

"Just as I would do for any young suitor foolish enough to court Marguerite. Just because I do not desire you in _that_ manner does not mean I will let some fop use you for his own pleasures. No Christine. His intentions must be pure. He must deserve the love you give so freely to even a monster like me. He must be willing to face the very belly of the beast to deserve you. And now I shall see if he is willing to face such. Madame Giry is no doubt showing him a more trying path to my home as we speak. We shall see of his love is true. And if it is, only then will I trust him with you, my Angel," Erik explained.

"You're telling me you killed Buquet and Piangi just to test Raoul's devotion to me," Christine asked in mounting horror.

"Buquet had that and more coming for things you are too young to hear about, much less understand. As for Piangi, well your guess is as good as mine. I intended to leave the fat fool bound and gagged to humiliate him once he was discovered and we had evanded your beloved's little trap. I suppose my comment about his weight had been too accurate. Perhaps he suffered a fatal heart attack from fear?" Erik speculated with a look of passing contemplation.

"Still why all this deception? Why the lies?" Christine deamnded.

"I am the Phantom of the _Opera,_ Christine. What is life without some drama?" Erik inquired with a devilish smirk.

"You are mad," Christine insisted in a shocked whisper.

"So Madame Giry has told me," Erik agreed.

"Madame Giry, she is your accomplice in this scheme, then?" Christine demanded.

"Only in so far as to keep me from harming your Raoul somehow. She thought matters had progressed much too far already and that I should have been satisfied with a face to face meeting with the boy. She was always too trusting and forgiving for my taste," Erik replied.

Christine tried to picture the stern visage of the ballet mistress and her surrogate mother in those terms and did all she could to stifle a giggle at the absurdity of that claim.

"I know that this is a great deal to take in, but if all goes as I suspect you will soon be in the arms of your love and I will be content in knowing he will do anything to make you happy. Have patience, child," Erik said as a means of offering comfort to his protégé.

For her part, Christine could do no more than sit in the throne-like chair off to the side of the organ as she tried to wrap her head around all that was transpiring. She would admit that a part of her was flattered that the Phantom had done all of this just for her happiness, just as another part of her was vexed that he did not seem attracted to her in any way. granted, being raised in the ballet dorms of the Opera Popularie did not exactly train a girl to grasp what went on in a man's mind, but she had always seemed to understand Raoul's intentions clearly enough. Her Angel of Music was clearly a more complicated creature by far.

Her musings were cut short as a desperate cry of "Christine!" filled the cavern as Raoul sloshed up the closed iron tages that sealed off the Phantom's lair from the underground lake.

"Ah, it seems we have a guest, my dear. I was hoping you would arrive, Monsieur le Vicomte. Welcome to my home," Erik said with a note of glee as he gestured to the gate to and made it rise to allow Raoul entry. Part of him wanted to continue his test, to place the punjab lasso on Raoul's neck and make the fool choose Christine's life over his own when nothing else mattered, but the look of joy and relief on the girl's face as she fell into the arms of her brave young suitor softened his heart. "Well played, boy. I have seen all that I must. Now go, and take you blushing future bride with you," Erik instructed.

"Christine will no doubt explain things to you, boy. Take her and leave me. Forget all that you have seen here. But know this, should you ever hurt her; should you make her shed a single tear of pain and sorrow, I will know. And this night and the days leading up to it will seem like a paradise compared to what I will do before I end you. I entrust my greatest treasure to you, boy. See that you treat that gift accordingly," Erik warned as he pointed to a side exit where his gondola was docked.

Raoul was wholly confused by the situation but did not feel like looking a gift horse in the mouth as he took Christine by the hand and led her away. Erik looked on wistful even as he pulled a lover that dropped a curtain that would conceal his home from the approaching mob and present the appearance of a stone wall rather than the entrance to his cavern, an appearance that the original blueprints for the Opera Populaire would corroborate.

He moved to his throne like chair and turned the crank for his music box, singing along sadly for a couple of bard of Masquerade as he tried to accept that he would never likely speak to his Angel again, and could only risk seeing her at a distance from now on. Letting her go was a bitter pill to swallow, but if it made the girl happy it was all he could do.

Erik was somewhat shocked then when Christine reappeared at his side and silently moved in to hug him before giving him a tender kiss on his deformed cheek. "There are things I will never forget, and may have trouble forgiving, but I will always care for you, my Angel of Music," she whispered to him with tears in her eyes before running back to join Raoul.

Erik's face grew truly peaceful for the first time in years as he watched her go.

It was a good ten minutes later when his silent contentment was broken with the words, "The boy will make he happy," spoken be his dear Antoinette Giry as she emerged from his bedroom. No doubt she had used one of his secondary escape routes as a back door into his home.

"He had better, if he values his life," Erik affirmed with a small scowl.

"Meg has successfully led the mob to one of your secondary lairs. No doubt they are smashing masks and tearing up some of the opera notes you left there as we speak," Madame Giry informed him.

"Better that than letter her lead the boy here. Little Giry could never keep a straight face when she was not dancing," Erik responded with a small smile.

"Did you really have to burn the entire Opera down for this little charade?" Antoinette asked him.

"How else could I get those idiots out of here and rebuild it as I see fit. LeFerve will be more than happy to go in with me to make the Opera Populaire what it should be again. And as a bonus, I doubt La Carlotta will ever step foot in here again," Erik replied.

"Always three steps ahead, eh Erik?" Madame Giry asked with a shake of her head.

"It has kept me alive this long," Erik reminded her.

"No, that was me bringing you food and reminding you that you need sleep," Madame Giry shot back.

Erik smiles as he agreed, "So it was." After a pause he asked, "Do you think it will be this hard with Meg too when she finds a young man?"

"I do not know. Although I imagine that if Christine has found a Vicomte for herself, Meg will settle for no less than an Emperor," Antoinette replied with a sad grin of her own.

"Indeed. I will see to it," Erik agreed.

But that is a tale for another time.


End file.
